Writing a Candidate Thesis at BTH

with Guogua Bai

What is a thesis work?

No fixed literature: adapted to subject. However, there is literature on the subject of writing thesis reports. See the slides for some.

Encouraged to write in English.

C-level thesis?

 1. 10wks full work. Will be more time demanding than that!

 2. In the area of (information) systems sciences

- Computer science/information engineering science

- Not soft subjects.

 3. Theoretical and practical interest

- Don't choose a futuristic subject.

 4. Scientific methods

- Analysis, synthesis, inductive, deductive, qulitative, quantitative, ...

 5. A case study.

- Take a practical situation and put it in a theoretical study.

- Opposite: Read literature, summarize, draw conclusions.

Goals of C Thesis

Train your capability on how to:

 1. Apply knowledge into practice (case study)

- Not just summarize others' knowledge. Output something, not just input.

 2. Work independently.

- Supervisor is a mentor, not leader. 

 3. Write a scientific paper.

- Your career's most important work to date.

 4. Present your idea.

- Oral presentation.

- This is difficult and a nervous situation. Four seminars will be dedicated

  to train presentation skills.

 5. Think critically

Steps that must be followed

 1. Warranted PM by your examiner/supervisor

- Proposal must be accepted before you can write

 2. Participation in seminars and supervising

- Something has to be presented at each seminar by us!

 3. Qualified thesis and summary (in English)

 4. Qualified presentation (at last seminar, "redovisning") and defense of your own work.

 5. Qualified (head and assistant) opponent and opponent reports.

General steps of your thesis

 - Choose a practically AND theoretically meaningful subject (within computer science)

- Make a proposal (sort of a 'first version' of the thesis)

 - Form your hypothesis and predict possible outcome (i e the goal or contribution of

   your work)

 - Work out a time table or procedure for the work (when, where, what)

 - Collect data, design experiment, and test hypothesis

 - Explain, analyse, or synthesize the result of your data or testing according to your 

   hypothesis, and draw your conclusion.

 - Write your thesis and make your presentation.

PM

Sent by email to gba@bth.se before 10 Feb! for course registration. Feedback on seminar 1.

1. Preliminary title, name(s), date, version

- recommended work alone, or with one partner.

2. Background of the problem (context)

3. Relevant literature at hand (theory)

4. Goals (with outcome), motivation (why the subject)

5. Questions which you try to answer through your study or hypothesis (casual-effect you will 

   examine)

6. Preliminary time plan

- Refer to the seminars for a rough time plan.

Subject of email must be "DVC001 PM"

Compulsory steps

[Week 7] SEMINAR 1

Subject - Motives/goals - Hypotheses/questions

 1. Title and subject with references such as books, articles, web.

 2. Hypothesis and related questions to be answered.

 3. Motive and goals to be achieved.

 4. A preliminary time plan for the whole process.

5-10 minutes, 3-4 slides.

[Week 10] SEMINAR 2

Factors/variables - boundary - contents - method - refined time plan

 1. Hypothesis in relation to concrete input & output variables (a casual relationship)

 2. Boundary with explanations

- "Environment variables". These influence output, but are not regarded as input since 

       they cannot be measured (perhaps because you don't know how). This is how you put a 

       boundary on the system to be examined. However, even if they aren't investigated, the 

       environment variables must be identified.

- IF environment variables have a 'main relationship' on output, your thesis is

  invalid. You must choose variables so that input is main, environment is 

  secondary.

 3. Contents to second level (innehållsförteckning).

- Good to have before actually writing, to outline the report.

 4. Data collection, how and where, contact person/organizations.

 5. How to test hypothesis or to answer questions.

Propose/test new outputs/inputs to system, map inputs to outputs, ...

 6. How the goals and outcome can be achieved.

 7. Concrete time plan, when and what to do.

[Week 16] Control Seminar

  Present your whole work verbally as a check point before writing thesis

  Everything should have been prepared to this point: you should have all data, although not 

  in order.

[Week 20] Final thesis

...must be sent to your supervisor, examiner and opponent groups before week 20 (18/5)!

[Week 23] Presentation, Defense, opposition

Choose the right subject

A subject could be initiated by companies you have had contact with (not as a contracted task), suggested by supervisors, by your readings, by your previous experience, etc. When you choose a subject, you should consider the following. If all check out good, the subject is good.

 - Your knowledge about the subject.

- The subject must be based on your AVAILABLE knowledge! Don't choose something 

       completely new.

 - Your interest (your motivation).

 - Scientific and current interest.

 - Challenge vs your capability ('lagom' in Swedish).

 - Empirical evidence available (cases available).

This course isn't about learning new knowledge. It's about applying the knowledge you already have.

What is a hypothesis?

Can be formalized in the form "If [conditions] then [result]".

Examples:

 - IF users are provided with a structured interface, THEN they will learn quicker than with 

   an unstructured interface.

- Define input variables:

- Users (must be classified further); 

- Interface ("structured" and its antonym must be classified further)

- Define output:

- Learn (How? what?) quicker (what does that mean?)

 - Large organizations mostly employ recognized standard design methods for maintaining 

   software quality.

 - Probability of accident is higher when people talk on cell phones during car driving.

Scientific methods

 1. Deductive vs inductive

- Candidate thesis work about deduction. 

 2. Analysis vs synthesis

Analysis:  Break down existing problem and study each part to understand the whole.   Problem: "Synergic effect". Whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Synthesis: Compare problem to others. Map problem to bigger context

 3. Qualitative vs quantitative

How to write a scientific thesis

 - Statements and facts should be referenced to original sources.

 - Your own statement should be developed and argued.

 - Structure of the thesis should follow some norms.

 - You must apply scientific methods to demonstrate your results.

 - Linguistics must be syntactically, semantically and pragmatically right

   (writing format - see course reference #3)

 - Consistency, logical reasoning, guideline for readers.

Case study

What is a case study? It tries to illuminate a *decision*: why they were taken, how they were implemented, and with what result.

Why? 

 - Good integration of theory and practice

 - Good time to hunt for a job

 - Better control

Reliability (method), validity (data), generalization (analysis)

Reliable: Two measurements give same results. Free of subjective bias, standard methods.

Validity: 

Other notes

Supervisor gets 23 hours of work with group.